Pak reinforce squad for 2nd Test
Pakistan's mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed and Kamran Ghulam have joined the national Test squad ahead of the second Test match against Bangladesh, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement on Wednesday.
The second Test between the two sides is scheduled to take place at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from August 30 to September 3.
Abrar and Kamran were released from the Test squad before the start of the first Test match and featured for Pakistan Shaheens in a four-day game against Bangladesh 'A' at the Islamabad Club.
Pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi - who was also released from the squad at the conclusion of the first Test - has rejoined the Test side on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, Aamir Jamal, who had been released from the squad to work on his fitness at the NCA, has also been recalled. His participation in the second Test will remain subject to fitness clearance.
Pakistan played four pacers in the first Test - Shaheen, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali and Naseem Shah - as the Shan Masood-led unit wanted to go with a pace attack, but things did not go their way as they were dominated by the Bangladesh batting lineup and lost the game by 10 wickets.
As per reports, the team management, along with senior players, were not happy with the way the pacers performed in the first Test.
It is believed inside the dressing room that the pacers could not take advantage of the grass on the pitch and their declining pace also became a matter of discussion.
During the first Test, Naseem got three wickets while Shaheen, Shahzad and Ali managed to get two wickets each but they were not enough as Bangladesh scored a plethora of runs during their first innings.
Chasing the 30-run target after bowling Pakistan out for 148 runs during their second innings, the visitors had no trouble as Zakir Hasan (15) and Shadman Islam (9) guided the visitors to the target in just 6.3 overs.
Meanwhile, in their first innings, Bangladesh scored 565 before they were all out with the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim scoring 191 runs.
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal (subject to fitness), Abrar Ahmed, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper) and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Rizwan moves up in ICC Rankings
England batter Harry Brook has moved up to fourth position while Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Rizwan have reached career-best positions in the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings after their fine performances over the past week.
Brook's scores of 56 and 32 in the first match of their ICC World Test Championship series against Sri Lanka in Manchester has lifted him three places to fourth position, just one adrift of his career-best third position attained following his second-innings century against the West Indies at Trent Bridge last month.
Bangladesh batter Mushfiq's match-winning 191 in the first Test of the WTC series against Pakistan in Rawalpindi has helped him advance seven places to a career-best-equalling 17th position while Pakistan's Rizwan is in the top 10 for the first time after scores of 171 not out and 51.
Others to move up the Test rankings include Sri Lanka batters Dinesh Chandimal (up four places to 23rd) and Kamindu Mendis (up eight places to 36th), Bangladesh's Liton Das (up two places to 27th) and England's Jamie Smith (up 22 places to 42nd).
In the Test bowling rankings, England's Chris Woakes is up four places to 16th after taking three wickets each in both innings against Sri Lanka while Asitha Fernando is up 10 places to 17th after also finishing with six wickets in the match.
Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah (up four places to 33rd), England's new-ball bowler Gus Atkinson (up four places to 42nd) and Matthew Potts (up five places to 57th) are the prominent movers in the bowling rankings.